Leadership Insights

Jeroen Kraaijenbrink — Why the CEO Is the Last to Know

Episode notes

The conversation, captured

Date: July 21, 2026
Participants: Kristian Luoma Jeroen Kraaijenbrink

The Coordination Tax is a podcast by In Parallel about what actually breaks down when teams stop sharing the same reality. In this episode, host Kristian Luoma sits down with Jeroen Kraaijenbrink — strategy author, teacher, and independent consultant with more than twenty years working alongside the executive teams trying to make their strategies actually work. Jeroen is the author of several books, including The One Hour Strategy, and the creator of PACE — Purpose, Awareness, Connection, Energy — a diagnostic for whether the human conditions for honesty exist before a company writes another plan. His argument, after all of it: most companies don't have a strategy problem. They have an honesty problem, and nobody in the building is willing to name it out loud.

Summary

Information travels sideways through rumors and gossip but rarely up the org chart — speaking up vertically carries real career risk, which is why CEOs are so often the last to know what's actually going on.
The numbers behind the honesty gap: only about 1% of employees feel confident voicing concerns in crucial moments, 50–90% of strategy execution fails, and only ~13% of workers are engaged. The bottleneck isn't the plan — it's honesty.
The story that anchors the episode: a hundred-year-old company where the CEO saw two green numbers on a dashboard while the thirty managers beneath him described a "sick company," a "sick culture," and "the black period in history." History gets into a company's DNA, and a new leader can't always break the past.
The red flags are small and human — the first three seconds of a Teams call, and the confidential email a CEO forwarded to the very person it was about.
PACE names the human conditions honesty needs: Purpose (people only speak up if they care about the cause), Awareness (knowing your own blind spots and biases), Connection (no psychological safety, no honesty), and Energy (fear mode, ego, and the split between work and home).
The close: the first uncomfortable conversation a leader has to have is with themselves. "Just like in airplanes" — fit your own mask first, then help the rest. Be the drop in the water and let the ripple spread.

What was discussed

Why the CEO is the last to know

Key insight

Information travels sideways through rumors and gossip, but rarely up the org chart.
Speaking up vertically comes with real career risk, so the truth doesn't travel vertically.
The result: the person in charge is often the last to find out what's actually happening.

Strategy isn't the problem — honesty is

Highlight

Most of what companies call "strategy" is really analysis — 100 frameworks in a textbook.
The "brains at the top, hands at the bottom" model is where much of the disconnect comes from.
The One Hour Strategy: everyone in a company owning their piece, not a plan handed down.
50–90% of strategy execution fails, and only ~13% of workers are engaged.

Only 1% feel safe to speak up

Key insight

Only about 1% of employees feel confident voicing concerns in crucial moments.
Coordination is part of the problem — and part of the solution.

The dashboard CEO vs. the sick company

Story

A hundred-year-old company: the CEO stared at two green dashboard numbers and saw a healthy business.
The top thirty managers beneath him described a "sick company," a "sick culture," and "the black period in history."
Why history gets into the DNA — new leaders can't always break the past.

The red flags

Highlight